December 25th
by Seeker Rose
Summary: With soft snowflakes beginning to fall outside their townhouse, and laughter floating in from the living room, Remus sipped his tea. Maybe the 25th of December was his favourite day of the year after all. Christmas 2004 in the Lupin household. AU set after DH. M rating for safety because rules.


**A/N:** four months late (or eight months early, more the first though), this was meant to be published at christmas, but with uni there's a lot of stuff going on and i couldn't find the inspiration to write again, so this was pushed back a lot. but it's here now, and i'll have a lot more time to write now, so i'm back! don't forget to review and let me know what you think.

**disclaimer:** the characters belong to j k rowling and any other associated companies.

* * *

_December 25th 2004_

He instantly knew the Sun had yet to rise when he felt cold hands belonging to his wife snake around his waist and up his chest. His stomach muscles clenched automatically from the cold, and he both felt and heard the whispered chuckle from her lips on his neck.

"Mm… Dora…"

She laughed against his shoulder blade, and then continued her path downwards with both mouth and hands. A slight shiver of both pain and pleasure past through him as she touched his bruised rib from the previous full moon. It reminded him for a split second that he should probably find time to visit Diagon Alley and buy more healing balm, before Tonks' path on his body went lower and lower and…

_A Merry Christmas it was indeed._

"Your hands are _very_ cold."

"Mm," she whispered, her voice seductive and unperturbed. "But we haven't done _this_ in a _very_ _long_ time."

An amused puff of air passed his lips as he leant forward, gently leading her chin up to his face to kiss her.

"As much as I want to, _oh_ how I _want_ to… there is one reason- a tiny new reason- to explain why we have not," he paused, unable to resist kissing her for long looking all rumpled. "And she is asleep in her room down the hall."

"It's what the Mediwitch advised, Remus, and advice," she straddled him, kissing a part of his face between each word, "is there… to… be ignored… if one should wish… besides… it's been… a month… now… almost… it's Christmas… and I've… _never…_ wanted you _more_."

A guttural groan slipped from his throat and he saw in the change of her eyes, from her natural brown to icy blue, the delight she gained from it.

"I fear you will be the death of me, Dora."

Her grin turned mischievous, almost cocky. She trailed the path of his snail trail repeatedly with her fingers. It made his blood boil with lust.

"And wouldn't that be a nice way to go for an old man?"

One hand slowly began to undo the buttons on the red tartan pyjama top of his she had claimed as her own, exposing her cleavage directly in his eye line, before biting down on his lip. His hand instinctively found itself inside the shirt onto her rib, ghosting over the underside of her breast, while the other hand stroked her thigh and over her bum. She grinned at him, grinding down; teasing over the layers of clothing they still wore. Remus felt his heart begin to beat furiously in his chest.

"See, it wasn't so hard to disregard the rules now, was it?"

"As a holder of a lifelong membership to the Marauders," he suddenly flipped them over, slotting in between his wife's legs, kissing up her neck, as she squealed in surprise, her hair changing to its natural dark blonde shade. "It's not my first time."

"Oh, Moony is making an appearance now is he?" she threaded her hands through his hair, grinning, and he felt a shiver run through her body when he sucked on a particular point behind her ear.

"Mm, about time he did. Being the responsible one all the time is dreadfully dull."

Leaving kisses down her neck, he followed the path from her collarbone and between her breasts to barely touching his lips against her stomach, to trailing kisses to her hips, and then her inner thigh, teasing her exactly the way he knew she liked. She let out a string of profanities and soft moans, increasing in speed and volume, until she suddenly froze, and leant up onto her elbows.

"Remus?"

He looked up. "Hmm?"

"Can you hear that?"

"Hear what, love?"

"Listen…"

Remus sat up, his shoulder cracking in process. They both paused. At first the silence engulfed them, and the stillness gave an eerie aroma, which made him uncomfortable. He was still not used to the silence after six years of peacetime after the War, or even the usual hustle and bustle the Lupin household brought to the day.

"I can't hear-"

"There it is again!"

Again, they paused, and this time he heard it. Mumbling.

"It sounds like…" she looked straight into his eyes. "There's someone on the landing."

Ever the Auror, he watched her quickly move into action; grabbing her wand off the bedside table and buttoning up the pyjama shirt simultaneously, as he grabbed his worn dressing gown and wandlessly summoned his wand. He snorted in humour when he heard the expected murmur of "show off".

They stood facing their bedroom door- their breathing heavy in the quiet. He placed his hand on the doorknob, gripped his wand tighter, and turned back to Tonks.

"Stay behind, and-"

"Like hell, Lupin," she whispered, poking him lightly with her wand.

They stared at each other for what seemed to be forever, silently communicating on the plan. At the start of their relationship, they had received many looks and questions as to how two opposites could possibly make a relationship work. Remus himself could admit he had asked that question several times. But it was so much more than the outside appearance. It was these moments: the silent communications, finishing each other's sentences, the shared humour that made them perfect. It also helped that Tonks had a magnificent pair of legs to make any man drool.

Suddenly, Tonks brought Remus out of his thoughts by bursting into quiet laughter, pressing her ear against the doorframe. She motioned for Remus to do the same.

"I think we may have overreacted slightly. Listen."

He pressed his ear to the door. From this closer position, the murmuring was distinguishable. The voices were much too high and childlike for Death Eaters out for revenge or burglars. It sounded to Remus like three little voices… arguing.

"You knock on the door."

"You do it. You're the oldest. I'm five and you're six. "

"So that makes me boss. And I say you knock."

"I wanna see if he's been!"

"Shh you'll wake Capella."

Remus smirked at the conversation. He looked over to his wife who had an proud smile swept across her face, silently laughing at the situation. She tilted her head to door and he nodded, winking at her. The doorknob twisted in his hand as he quietly opened the door.

On the landing stood three little boys, all in pyjamas and bare feet with incredibly impressive bed head hair. Tonks heartily laughed at the sight of their sons as they froze mid argument when they heard the squeak of the hinges of their parents door.

"So what super top-secret mission are we planning boys?" his wife mockingly whispered, kneeling down on the floor playfully.

"Nothing."

Remus smiled as he saw his two eldest boys sneak a glance to the other. Teddy, or Edward for whoever dared to call him so or face the wrath of the six year old, widened his eyes in a secret warning. His eyes were his natural dark, which twinkled with mischief and hair the most peculiar shade of blue, and horrifically bright, thought Remus, for this time of morning.

"Mummy!" their youngest son, Sirius, yelled. He jumped up from his perch and ran full pelt into Tonks' arms. Like his namesake, he was already a hell raiser at the age of three, and could charm anyone with his cheeky smile, piercing blue eyes and untamable brown hair. Tonks kissed his rosy cheek.

"Now come on then, spill. What are we doing, hmm? Are we going to fight a dragon? Or is this a plan to prank Daddy? Because we should whisper so he doesn't know what we're going to do," she teased, sending a sly wink to Remus.

Sirius giggled and turned around slightly to sit on Tonks' lap whilst he maintained his grip on her. Remus smiled as yet again the other two boys sent glances to the other. Teddy began to exaggeratingly over blink in some sort of pattern to his five-year-old brother, and Alastor's eyes seemed to widen in understanding. Alastor was almost a carbon copy of Remus, only with Tonks' natural hair, which he nervously ran his hand through as his blue eyes looked to his father.

"We wanted- we wanna know if-"

"M-Mummy, has, has… has he been?" Sirius interrupted excitedly.

He saw Tonks smile knowingly, before faking confusion and innocence.

"Has who been, sweetheart?" she combed back Sirius' hair from his forehead. "Do you know, Daddy?"

"Not the foggiest clue. Has who been, cub?"

"Santa, of course!"

Both Teddy and Alastor sighed in frustration as their brother revealed their secret. Remus smiled at them and gave them a sly wink in understanding of what they were trying to do.

"Ah I see," he whispered as if telling a deep secret, crouching down and knees cracking on the way. Tonks leaned over a kissed the nearest one lightly. "Well you see, the big question is, have you boys been good all year?"

Three enthusiastic nods were his answer as they moved closer in towards their parents. He turned to Tonks whose eyes were glowing in mischief.

"Are you sure you've been good all year?" Tonks asked, mockingly suspicious.

"Yeah!" a chorus sounded.

"Swear on chocolate sundaes?"

"Swear on chocolate sundaes!" another chorus sounded, although Teddy's answer was rather subdued.

"Did you see him Dad? Did he really come?" Alastor asked quietly, excitement written across his face.

Remus and Tonks turned to one another again, eyes wide with humour. He looked at all three boys and saw a similar expression of excitement and anticipation on them all.

"Well I did have a chat with a very jolly fellow in a red suit about a reindeer of his on the sofa last night. He drank all of our butterbeers and ate our mince pies, and then I seem to believe he left a huge pile of presents under the-"

But they had stopped listening and let out a yell of excitement. Amongst the laughs and excited chatter could be heard sniffles from down the corridor. Tonks beamed at them and stood up.

"Well let's go and open those presents then! I'll just grab Capella 'cause she's grumbling she's missing all the action with her big brothers!"

The boys agreed to wait until their sister was with them before they opened their presents, running to the edge of the stairs and fighting over the first in line. He smiled at their kindness, glad they were finally warming up to their sister after they, and pretty much everyone else, were expecting the next Lupin to be another boy.

Tonks kissed his shoulder before murmuring "I wont be long. She needs feeding."

"It's fine. We'll wait for you."

"Thanks" she kissed his mouth, and moved down the corridor.

"Right cubs, all aboard!"

And with that he grabbed all three of his sons and threw them over his good shoulder, and made his way down the stairs with the laughing boys. Hearing their laughter, Tonks turned back with worry.

"Remus! Be careful with them. And your ribs, Remus! Careful with Dad, boys, he's still poorly after the moon" she called over the railing.

Remus rolled his eyes, before continuing to carry all three boys down the stairs to the sounds of laughter and "put me down".

He reached the bottom step and finally freed them, Teddy and Alastor looking a little concerned to their dad whilst Sirius bounced up and down. A reassurance of being fine and a challenge of a race soon had them sprinting down the corridor for the first one to the tree. They skidded through the living room door as he set the kettle to boil and followed after them. He soon found them still stood by the door; all three had Cheshire cat grins. Presents were littered around the tree as well as under, and their stockings hanging on the fireplace were full to the brim. Remus smiled down at them, and gave them a gentle nudge.

"Well what do you know, he did leave presents," Teddy turned back and smiled up at him, his face smirking to show he hadn't believed his lie about not leaving them. He winked back. "Go on then, sort them out while we wait for your mother."

They all cheered and quickly ran towards the tree, digging under to find their own presents and handing them over to each other if they found them. Remus wandlessly made his black tea with two sugars with his limited view of the kitchen from the door of the living room, and summoned it to him. He leant against the doorframe and just surveyed them, chuckling at every little excited murmur from them.

"Oh wow! Haven't you been lucky boys?!" Tonks squealed excitedly, appearing behind him. Capella was sound asleep in her mother's arms again, gently smiling as she was rocked lightly.

She threaded an arm around Remus' waist and squeezed his hip; as he bent down to kiss her cheek. Then she moved around him, and joined the excited little boys as they opened their piles of presents wrapped in the cheesiest Christmas paper Tonks could find.

"Well come on then slow pokes, let's open them!"

Remus couldn't help think that his wife was as, if not more, excited than their sons as she helped them open presents and gushed at each one they proudly showed off. He was firmly on dad duty- helping them set up their presents when they demanded after each one and for when the rubbish needed to be collected. He couldn't have traded it for the world.

There had been a time for Remus where he would have boldly admitted he had never been a Christmas fan. In the past, with most of the people he loved gone, and so little funds to buy presents for those still around, it was the time of year which really made Remus realise just how alone and poor he was.

And he hated it. He hated the feeling of self-loathing, and he hated the happy shoppers bundled in Christmas jumpers and singing songs and carols and spreading Christmas cheer. He hated not being able to forget about prejudice and war for one day while he relaxed and spent time with those he loved.

But now, as he saw the three bright grins seemingly permanently stuck on his sons' faces as they happily showed off their new toys to their mother who had them giggling in amusement- and their tiny baby sister watching on in fascination- he couldn't help but smile to himself at his family, and how his luck had turned incredibly in his favour.

He thought about the plans for the rest of the day too: of the fun he would have as he played with his children and their new gifts, of the delicious Christmas meal with Andromeda and his father, and the visit Harry and Ginny would undoubtedly pay them later tonight as depicted tradition since Teddy's birth. He thought of Tonks, and the thought of snuggling up to her under the covers, lavishing her in kisses and finishing off where they started this morning, surrounded by the glow of her vanilla candles after the children were all in bed.

With soft snowflakes beginning to fall outside their townhouse, and laughter floating in from the living room, Remus sipped his tea, looking younger than ever with a smile fit for a Marauder. Maybe the 25th of December was his favourite day of the year after all.


End file.
